Gallery

The Kobby chapter

The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual event or person. Any resemblance to a person(s) (dead or alive) or event is coincidental.

THE KOBBY CHAPTER

The constant buzzing of her message tone woke her up rather early in the morning. Her eyelids were still heavy with sleep. She had hardly slept. She had stayed up during the night trying to convince herself the next day would be the end of the world or the beginning of world war three. But even someone who possessed such an angelic beauty as she did wasn’t that lucky. As it turned out, it was going to be Kobby War 1. She turned her head and the morning rays of sunlight streaking through the French windows almost blinded her. Damn it. Margaret had parted the curtains. Lazily rubbing her eyes, she picked up her phone to read the messages. Most of them were from Kobby wishing her a lovely morning and wondering if he could pick up a cup of coffee with some toasts as breakfast for her. She groaned loudly and covered herself with her blanket. Jeez, she thought, just one breakfast I asked him to pick up for me one time and he already wants to use that as an opportunity. The groaning didn’t stop until her roommate, obviously fed up asked, “What’s with the froggy noise?” ‘Am drowning’. She looked at the confused expression on Margaret’s face and almost laughed but another text came through and the curve on her lips turned into a straight line. What a day this was going to be.

Heart racing, her eyes looking everywhere but nowhere. Pupils appear dilated, knees weak and wobbling and trying to make sense of what she feels or is it how she feels. She looks across her desk at work and all she sees is her fears staring back her with dazzling eyes, sparkling white teeth and a smile that says everything in the heart. How does a person fear that in another? She turns her head the other direction and finds another just like him. It’s almost like a crossroads with no stop sign or green light. The only way forward being a road she had trodden far too many times. Heartbreak, the only solution to an ironic happiness.

The good things she sees in him, how he worships her and makes her the center of his world only drives her further away. Waking up every morning to be met with this at the office was gradually becoming a headache. What to tell him wasn’t an issue but how to go about it without hurting his feelings was going to be hard. Either way, one of us was hurting and one of us had to speak up. She hated that flaw in her; her inability to consciously hurt another and to say no. It was getting her in trouble now.

“Anima”. A deep but slightly throaty voice seemed to be mentioning her name. She heard it again. This time louder and with much more energy and force. She snapped out of her reverie and raised her head to find Kobby smiling down at her. Her miserable attempt to smile back at him brought a slight frown to his face which he quickly hid.

“Do you want to grab some lunch?” he asked.

Wasn’t breakfast enough? With a slight hesitation and a shrug, she said. “Yes, I don’t see why not” almost in a sing song voice.

“Is everything ok?”

‘Yeah. Shall we go?’ She answered quickly not wanting the conversation to steer in a direction she knew would end up with her getting pissed with his smothering.

They found themselves sitting at a cafeteria a few blocks away from the office. She ordered the tiniest bit of finger food available and a glass of juice. Noticing the questioning look on his face as to why her usual plate wasn’t ordered, she shrugged and gave a casual “Am not hungry” answer and smiled at him. Much more convincingly this time. Nodding his head, he began his usual talk about what lies ahead of man and how lost he was without love. She had heard this over and over again the word love couldn’t even qualify for a cliché anymore. This was worse than any form of emotional child abuse she could think of. Getting lost in the conversation, her mind started to take in their surroundings. A lot of the workers in the company in which they worked also dined at the cafeteria too. People liked to come in pairs or in a group. Her eyes darted to the closest window to her. Sitting on a bench at the nearest bus stop was a couple who seemed to be trying as much as they could to keep their tongues from sliding down in each other’s throats. She shook her head in amusement. God knows she had had a fair share of that experience. Two years into a relationship with Nathaniel and the sizzling fire between them was as hot as the first time she tongued him. A bevy of ladies were also having what seemed like a girl chat at the opposite area. They sat in a semi-circle and after a few seconds of observing them she realized the lady in the middle was eyeing a guy who was chatting with a friend of his a few feet away from the group. The guy had also noticed the lady. She was nicely dressed. Sleek silky long sleeved well pressed white shirt tucked into a black high waist skirt topped up with a heel of not less than four inches .The skirt was not too long to suggest the usual religious type and not too short to be considered slutty. The guy was in neat polo shirt with denim shorts and a black converse. Nice. But from what she knew, the guy would have difficulty approaching the lady. Don’t people ever learn? She asked herself. Miss sleek would have to move to the outer part of the circle for the guy to easily approach or the guy should get some guts and call the nearest lady. What fun it is to watch people sweat when you know you can make it easier for them.

Something else quickly drew her attention. Some school kids were trying to cross the road amidst vibrant chit chat and laughter. That wasn’t what caught her eye. There she was. Trailing behind the kids was a pretty girl immaculately dressed for a kid closed from school on a Friday bearing a smile that didn’t quite reach her heart. There was a hint of sadness in her eyes. That was when it dawned on her how unhappy she had been for some time despite all her efforts to live a carefree life and bury her tainted past. Living for the moment was so much fun and much less regretful. Still she was unhappy within. The sounds of the whispers of the trees and the roaring of moving vehicles sounded faintly in her ears, even her own heartbeat sounded and felt miles away. This was not a day to be unhappy. She was going to make the most out of it even if for the most part, it wouldn’t be with the right people. Enough was enough.

Shaking these thoughts away, she turned towards Kobby and realized he had been staring at her apparently waiting for an answer to a question she hadn’t heard. Not that she wanted to hear it anyway. Kobby was halfway through his meal and she had barely touched hers.

“Come again please?” she politely asked. She smiled at him. One which she had perfected a while back to ease uncomfortable situations.

Leaning forward, he clasped their hands together and looked into her eyes. “Please God, not this again”, she prayed silently. She clenched her jaws and looked right back at him. He was trying to put on a puppy face expression. It won’t work. Never does anyway.

“How long would you have me worship and wait for you?” he asked.

‘I never asked you to wait for me. Not once have I asked that of anyone’ she coolly replied.

“Fine. I understand what you’ve been through. Yes, all men may be dogs but I want to be your dog. Just yours.”

Retrieving her hands from his and not sure what reply to give this time, she quietly nursed her juice and poked at the now soggy potato chips in front of her, trying desperately not to meet his inquiring gaze. For one thing, he didn’t know nearly a quarter of the things she had gone through. No one did. The person who inflicted the pain himself didn’t know how unbearable the pain had been and didn’t even remember half of the things he did to her. And for another, she definitely couldn’t handle a possessive guy such as him. A full day spent with him would be enough to make her run the more.

“Say something please?” he begged.

‘Kobby?’

“He just stepped out”. Someone seemed to answer.

I felt a gentle squeeze on my shoulder and looked up to find Thomas grinning down at me with those lovely dimples of his showing. Thank God. All this had been nothing but a daydream. Whew! I could feel the tension in my muscles easing and my butt unclenching. Don’t get me wrong. Kobby is a nice guy. But that was it. He is just nice. I was in a position where I could snap my fingers and have any nice guy I wanted but that wasn’t enough. Neither was a bad boy. God, I love those. Right now I wanted a guy who challenged me. Who could dare me attain greater heights and who was more ambitious than I was. A guy who didn’t make everything so easy for me, that way the spark wouldn’t be lost so soon and I wouldn’t lose interest quickly. Maybe one day Kobby would find a nice girl and they would perfectly happy making nice babies together. Speaking of nice, I had to agree to him taking me out on my last day at the office. I was going back to school the following week. Luckily, another co-worker was going to be there so the risk of him saying anything about how he felt was minimal. Better yet, an uncomfortable situation of me rejecting him would be avoided. Win win.

Office relationships had never been a thing on my list. Uh huh, I have a ‘to do list’. If I was going to do something sexual at the place where I worked, I had always imagined it would be like my boyfriend coming to surprise me at work and we sneak into an empty office or a washroom and have a quickie because you know, I didn’t have walls (office of my own…yet). My hair would be disheveled, my lipstick smudged and I would be trying to pull down my skirt as I tried to walk perfectly straight back to my desk and smiling like I just scored a goal against Germany. It’s a wild fantasy which I couldn’t imagine doing with Kobby no matter how hard I tried. I figured he would be the kind of guy that went on a date with his girlfriend planned three days ago, went home afterwards and wouldn’t touch her because he wasn’t sure if that would upset her. Girls like me, we wanted a guy who could take charge. I would be at home and he would call me up and say there was a club opening downtown and a couple of friends said it was going to be hot so how about it. That’s the unpredictable fun things that keeps us psyched. You never know where he is going to take you next or when he is going to do that or what you might even do afterwards. I was pretty sure I was going get dropped off at my apartment after we had had a couple of drinks. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I woke up Friday morning with mixed feelings. I was happy to be going back to school, I missed my room and my peers and most of all I missed feeling irresponsible a bit. Working in the corporate a second time had been an eye opener. I felt more matured, I could take appreciation and criticism of all my works with professionalism. The people at the office had become like family especially Thomas and I loved them. I guess they adored me as well but you never know. My boss had become an idol to me. She was a woman, married and with kids but could handle pressure and herself so expertly that I would have been in love with her if was gay or a guy. I was going to be like her. Grow up and get married with a career of my own and still respect men and my husband. Don’t worry mom, you are still the number woman I look up to everyday. These were my happy feelings. Though I didn’t like Kobby the way he wanted me to, I was surely going to miss being around him if I had to be completely honest with myself.

He could text me like fifty times in the eight to nine hours I spent at the office asking how I was doing or if I was ok. On some mornings, he would bring me little things that showed he cared like chocolates, candy or ‘chocomilo’. It was sweet and comforting at first but then I felt smothered after a week or two of it. It got a little annoying when I had to always empty my message app, WhatsApp and hangouts app to save some memory. And sometimes we would go to lunch together. It was kind of funny when he would just go with me to the cafeteria but wouldn’t order anything and just sit there watching me eat. He was fun in his own small way.

“Would you stop smiling and get ready for work? I doubt you want to end on a bad note.” Margaret said.

“Yes, of course.”

I brushed through my clothes to pick a dress that said I work in the corporate but it’s a Friday and a girl has to have fun. But I wasn’t too sure about my heels. I narrowed it down to two. One was a black six inch peep toe pumps and the other was a two inch sandal heel. I held them up for Margaret to help me choose.

“What, are you going hiking after you close? The pump is the better one. It says, former bad girl is back”, she said with a slight chuckle.

“It’s just that anytime I dress up fancy they get curious where I am going and which guy or guys am going with”, I told her.

I jumped into the shower and took a quick bath while Margaret ironed my dress for me. I got dressed and did a different hairstyle and began applying make-up. In the middle of applying my favorite red Mary Kay lipstick I realized I might be sending off the wrong signals to Kobby. Getting all dressed up might be a tad too much. He might think I got all dressed up because we were going out for drinks. I wiped off the lipstick and doused a little of the eye shadow off my eye. Looking in the mirror and satisfied with artwork, I kicked on the bad girls, my pumps. I smiled as I saw my slim figure in the dressing mirror and how my ass and feet looked.

“Not bad for a geek like you”, I heard my roommate say. I hated that word. Well, only when it was used on me.

‘I’m not a geek. Am just a girl with a very high GPA who knows how to party when the time right’, I retorted ‘And get off my back’.

I got to work that morning feeling all good and happy. Work was going on smoothly and I had received a message from my secret crush wishing me a wonderful last day at work. He had even sent me smileys blowing kisses. Not one. Not two. Three! Three of them. My, I felt like a teenager in high school. Thomas changed his sitting position so we could have one last long chat before I left.

Later that afternoon, my boss asked me and Kobby to pick up some finger foods for the send-off party they were organizing for me. It was nothing big but I appreciated it. We walked a couple of blocks in silence at first, and then he started suddenly chattering away about sports in an attempt to break the silence I suppose. I am into sports too but I wasn’t listening. I was just nodding along and laughed too when he laughed. I wanted to pay attention, honest, but we had already had this conversation several times already. Who was going to win the NBA conference finals and then the finals? He didn’t even support any team but loved talking about it because he knew I was into it. A huge Miami heat fan, that’s me. Dwaaaaaayne Wade!! I loved it anytime he made a basket or a terrific assist and the commentator stretched his name.

When we finally arrived at the shop, we met other workers there. Most people at the company ordered food from this vendor. We sat outside to wait while the place emptied a bit. We talked about funny occurrences at the office and things I would miss about the place while I was in school. It was a really good place to work. The atmosphere was great, every worker associated with almost everyone and even senior members shared jokes and laughed with people at the bottom chain. Whenever you got to work it was as if you had touched down in a different country and you were now with your adopted family. Unless of course, there was work already waiting for you at your desk and it was one of those days where a lot of work had to be done.

It was our turn soon and we claimed the food while Kobby paid for them. Our walk back was a better one. It’s always a wonder to me how food seems to bring a better mood in people. What was it? The aroma or the thought of munching on something tasty? Whatever it is, we talked and he cracked a knock knock joke which I thought was really funny.

We took the stuff into my boss’s office and placed them on a desk. She called the designers to come around for a couple of minutes. She prayed and offered me sound advice in my academic life and design tips. The rest of the designers did same. Other people who trooped in and out of the design unit said a quick goodbye and a word of appreciation of the job I had done. It felt really good. We went back to work but the atmosphere had changed to a jolly one, even more than usual. Someone dropped into an empty seat on my left. It was Zeke. He was a cool guy and kind of cute too. He had asked me a couple of times earlier in the year but I was already into someone. It was now tiring turning down guys all the time. All the same, Zeke and I had become fast friends. We talked a lot after work via WhatsApp and he had made a hobby of teasing me anytime Manchester United lost a match. We were having a terrible season which meant almost every time we had a football match, Zeke would be ready to send teasing messages in a couple of minutes. To his credit, the messages were funny and on point.

“You know I will miss you when you are gone right?” he asked.

‘Yeah, I know. How can you not. Am totally adorable, aren’t I?’ I joked.

“No you’re not. Don’t flatter yourself”

‘Whatever the case you will miss me’, I said laughing.

He stood up, kissed my cheek and walked away with his characteristic head bobbing kind of walk. I smiled as I watched him go. I realized I had connected with a lot of the workers in a positive way. I looked at the clock. It was half an hour past six. Fiifi was going to drive me home today so I had no intention of leaving early. My boss and Thomas were still around and I wanted to spend more time with them. There was not much work to do so I just sat by Thomas and we watched some videos on the internet. I noticed Kobby kept glancing over his shoulder to look at us. I wasn’t sure if he was thinking I was going to sneak out and ditch our hangout or that I liked Thomas better than I did him. I do like Thomas better. I have known him longer and he always has my back. I got his too.

I was enjoying myself so much I didn’t know how fast the clock was ticking. The day had gone well. Everyone had commented on my dressing and at appoint, I was almost shy to get out of my seat. They hadn’t seen me so dressed up before so I understood. What was killing them even more was the heels. They were Jimmy Choos and the latest design. What is more, my sense of style was something I got commended on often at the office mostly by the guys and well, men. When I say men, I mean men who are nearing retirement.

Fiifi and Kobby were ready to leave at nine. By then Thomas had left and the office had almost emptied. I slung my purse over my shoulder and we headed out the door. I bumped into Ken, the guy who never passed by me without giving me a peck on the cheek or on my wrist in the “my lady” manner. He hugged me, took my cell phone number and kissed me twice on the cheek. He was preparing for a third but I innocently ducked and pretended to prevent my phone from dropping to the floor. Whether he saw through it wasn’t a problem. I waved him goodbye as we walked to the car park.

When I saw Fiifi’s car my eyes bulged. The car he drove was sweet! For his own safety am not going to mention the type of car. But if it was a school and we were grading, his ride would definitely be in the Ivy League. Let’s just say he hits a ‘B’ when accessing his car boot.

Kobby opened the door to the front seat for me and dropped into the seat like the cushion was made of eggshells. Fiifi wasn’t a guy who tried to impress people but just then he spun the car in a fast reverse 180 and stepped on the gas. Maybe I thought wrong. He looked at me and asked where I wanted us to go for the night.

I wasn’t about to tell him. Am going to play the perfect lady and tell him the kind of atmosphere I enjoyed on a night out. Duh! This kind of thing always made a guy think and challenged him indirectly. I like places that were not so open, dark but with dim lights (In case anyone wanted to feel me up, I would know who. This is between you and I, soft music playing which picked up tempo as the night wore on making it perfect for dancing. A place where if I wanted something light to eat, it wouldn’t be a problem.

I told the guys just about that and waited to see where the car would park next. I was singing along to the music playing on the car stereo and ignoring the surprised looks on their faces. I get it. I am a cool kid when we are the office. I have to be. I was there to learn and to do that I had to be cool, which came natural. When it’s time for fun, it’s actually fun time! I don’t have to be cool when I am having fun. I know you are on my side on this one, right? A hip hop song came on and I was still moving to it. They liked it and fist bumped me.

The car pulled into a parking spot. I looked around and we were at a four star hotel. Uh-oh. My defenses out of nowhere went up. I had this thing where if a guy took me to a hotel to chill it meant he had a ‘plan’ I wasn’t in on. Once bitten twice shy. I nervously bit my lower lip. I put off my mobile data to save some battery so I could make a quick call were anything to happen. I knew these guys but let’s face facts, alcohol can drive the strongest willed nuts. Opening the door for myself, I dropped my purse on the seat, stood straight on the curb and took in a deep relaxing breath. Kobby came up behind me while Fiifi double checked the locks on his car. I looked down the street. The night sky looked beautiful with several stars in sight and the breeze was very cool. The soft music coming from the direction of the hotel’s bar added a good touch to the atmosphere. The trees on the street looked well planned and colorful flowers radiated from the street light. It was almost as if we had our own London Boulevard. Well, we were in Osu after all. Oxford Street rings a bell?

Fiifi joined us and we walked at a leisure pace towards the entrance.

“We are here to chill and I say we hit the bar and drinks straight away”, Fiifi said looking all too happy for my liking. He had looked at me oddly when he said bar.

“Agreed?” Kobby asked me.

“Why are you guys acting like am a buzz kill here? If anyone is it’s him”, I teased pointing at Kobby.

He held the door open as Fiifi and I passed through. We chose seats at the darker end of the area. They had picked a good place but I had a tiny problem. When I go out drinking with pals I prefer closed spaces where it got hotter as the dancing got hotter. This was way too open. Plus the main bar was too far from the seating arrangement. I didn’t hesitate to point that out when the waitress came for my order. The guys ordered local alcoholic drinks and asked if I wanted the same.

“I’ve never drank a local one” I told them.

They looked at me like I had said I’ve never eaten fufu or something. I don’t really get why people seem to get that way when I tell them that. It’s no big deal. Some people are vegetarians or vegans and I drink foreign alcohol of good branding.

‘How come?’ Kobby inquired.

I shrugged it off and ordered a bottle of Baileys. I was expecting a medium sized bottle but the guys quickly chipped in “She wants the big bottle”. We laughed and the waitress left with our order. Fiifi stood up to get us some meat to go with the drinks while Kobby and I had a chat about top brands in the world of alcohol. I can’t really recollect the details but I think he was leaning toward Hennessy and Johnny Walker. I argued that was the case in Ghana and probably Africa and I could bet that there were other brands making hotter waves than that, arguable of course.

We lapsed into silence after that and after a few seconds he also stood up to check on Fiifi. Few people were dancing. I couldn’t blame the customers. The DJ was obviously not a good one. He had a house filled eighty percent with the youth and twenty percent older people and he was playing songs from nineties. More people would’ve danced to it anyway if the songs had at least been hits during their time.

The waitress brought our order but the drinks were not chilled so I asked for some ice with a smile and she left to get some. The boys came back with two dozen sticks of kebab and a bottle of Absolut Vodka. Fiifi placed a tiny bottle in front of and winked.

“Parting gift from me. It’s just as cute as you”, he said.

I thanked him. A tiny bottle of Hennessey. I doubted it was his idea. However, I do remember telling him I drank Hennessey most often when I was out. I shifted aside as the ice was brought and poured some into my glass before opening the baileys and pouring myself half a glass. I watched with interest as they mixed their drinks with the vodka. Fiifi was a heavier drinker than Kobby but he could hold his liquor better. Which is what I planned on doing to prevent anything I didn’t consciously want happening to happen.

Kobby asked to make a toast and we nodded for him to go ahead. My gosh! We sat through a long toast and Fiifi and I clinked our glasses, each taking a good long sip from our glasses when we couldn’t wait any longer. He looked a little hurt but took a sip from his own glass. From then on, it was just drinks and laughter and few chunks of meat. The alcohol was getting to me a little so I chewed more of the kebab and slowed down on the drink. The music was picking up a bit. Fiifi asked me to dance and I hesitated. He stood up from his seat and danced alone for a while before practically dragging me to the dance floor.

At this rate I knew there was nothing more I could do but dance. The first few moments was a little awkward for me. For one thing, he was the first guy I was dancing with who was a lot older than me. For another, I hadn’t really imagined dancing with him till that evening. After that moment, it wasn’t really bad. He was a good dancer. And one who would take advantage of it, I noticed. He was grinding way too hard for the song that was playing and his hands kept moving up and down my dress. And I would pull my dress down to prevent him from touching my bare thigh when his hands came back down.

I got fed up when he wouldn’t give up this crazy act and sat back down. I took a long pull from glass to calm my nerves and even mixed some of the vodka with a soft drink to calm me better.

“Ready to dance with me?” Kobby quietly asked in a couple of minutes. Was he kidding me? I wasn’t going back there after Fiifi tried to feel me up. What if he was even worse? I looked at him. The guy had a huge crush on me and he acted like he couldn’t live right without me by his side. He could drop the act. There was no Chris Brown and Nicki Minaj thing here between us. Whatever he thought was going on between us had been up in flames before the sun could shine brighter. Perhaps this could be his last night with the moon shining. Besides, he couldn’t do any worse. This was gentle Kobby asking me to dance.

I allowed him to lead me to the dance floor. It was going really well despite the body contact being minimal. We did this for about half an hour. I began to feel like I should have been somewhere else. A place I had been yearning to be for such a long time. I wasn’t even sure if I was wanted there as much as I wanted to be there.

Out of the blue, Kobby pulled me by my waist, hard towards him. He was pushing up on me from behind. I tried wriggling my way out but he held on tighter and started dancing like it was his last night on earth with a girl. He moved one hand up my body and back down in a very sexual manner. The floor had cleared up a little and eyes were beginning to drift our way. I pretty disliked this kind of attention. He knew I also disliked making a scene and so kept on with it. I could feel his left hand drawing close to my behind while his right hand held me firm to him. I was much clever than that. Tonight wasn’t going be his night or any other night for that matter. I swiftly moved my waist in the opposite direction while going down forcing him to go down with me. He was a little big weight wise and I knew he wasn’t that great a dancer so would have difficulty coming back up without breaking the rhythm. Once we were down, I purposely kept that dancing position for a longer time and graciously came back leaving him to work his way back up. I smiled satisfactorily and started to walk back to my seat only to feel a slap on my behind.

I turned to face the culprit with anger only to see Kobby looking at me with a dirty grin on his face. It was probably the alcohol making him act this but I wasn’t going to let it slide. Fiifi sensed trouble and pulled me back quickly before I could slap Kobby to wipe that ugly smirk off his face. I had had enough. I was a little tipsy myself but I knew what I wanted and I wasn’t definitely going to get it where I was now. For the first in a long while, I knew which guy I wanted to be with for the night having dangerous fun. Funny enough, he wasn’t the guy I usually went in for and was the first guy ever to make me work for it a little. Perhaps that was part of the charm drawing me more to him.

I picked up my phone and sent a text to my crush telling him to expect me at his residence in a couple of minutes, half an hour tops. Then I asked Fiifi to drive me home. I was ready to leave. But not before I took a sip of the vodka without mixing it. Then I took one more sip. He settled the bill and asked me not to forget my Hennessey and I could take the remaining Irish cream along if I wanted. I thought what the hell, and picked up both. We walked to the car in silence. Kobby was so quiet the drive back I almost thought he wasn’t in the car. I told Fiifi where I was headed.

“Your boyfriend’s?” he jokingly asked.

I laughed but offered no answer. Throughout the drive, I thought about the guy I was going to see. He had a cute face with the most charming and winning smile I had seen a guy wear on his face. He had the softest hair that felt so good when u passed your fingers through them and a soft palm that fitted almost perfectly with mine that I liked lacing my fingers with his every opportunity I got. His beard was also well shaven at all times. In his company, I could say anything I wanted and I knew he wouldn’t tell another soul. Somehow though, I seemed to find it a bit of a herculean task coming up with opening lines when I wanted to talk to him.

We arrived shortly at my stop. I said a quick goodbye to Kobby and he whispered back. I told Fiifi I would be seeing him again and hopefully he would dance better. He grinned and apologized saying the liquor had gotten a better part of him and he had been too excited. I accepted it. At least he had admitted to inappropriate behavior.

The gates opened and I stepped out of the car knowing this was the right place to be for the rest of the night. My heart was at ease. I was greeted with an embrace which I casually but lovingly stepped into. I wasn’t keeping inventory of the guys I had dated but I hoped to God this was my ride home. He took the drinks from me and we stepped into the house closing the gate behind us.